Matthew Vaughn, the director of Argylle, recently shared the struggle he faced fulfilling the PG-13 regulations for his upcoming movie. The spy action comedy, which is set to release this week, features an ensemble cast alongside Henry Cavill as a secret agent from a fictional novel series who’s revealed to actually exist.
While the filmmaker did not aim for the movie to be rated R, he found himself in the midst of the set of rules to get the PG-13 ratings. The struggle, admittedly, would give even the rule-abiding Amy Santiago from Brooklyn Nine-Nine a run for her binders.
Matthew Vaughn Shared the Struggle to Get a PG-13 Rating For Argylle
The English filmmaker Matthew Vaughn is primarily known for directing R-rated action films such as Kick-Ass and the Kingsman franchise. However, it was not what he envisioned for his upcoming spy comedy film, Argylle, starring Henry Cavill.
The filmmaker reflected on the challenges he faced in tailoring the upcoming film to a PG-13 in a recent interview on the Total Film podcast. He shared that they had a make a few cuts from the film to get the required rating, and “two of them annoyed the hell out of [him].” He explained,
It sort of made me laugh. I didn’t know this at the time but headshots give you an R, chest shots, don’t. I said, ‘I don’t understand that because shooting someone in the chest is acceptable, but then the head is really bad?’ I don’t think most people care where you’re going to get shot, if you’re gonna get shot, you’re gonna get shot.
Offering a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes factors of the film, The King’s Man director highlighted the intricacies and peculiarities of the rating system that filmmakers have to deal with to meet rating guidelines.
Matthew Vaughn On What He Wanted Argylle To Be
Talking about the film’s rating in a recent interview, Matthew Vaughn shared that he wanted to make a “date movie,” inspired by classic films like Charade, Romancing the Stone, and North by Northwest. “These are movies that didn’t need to be an R like Kick-Ass needed to be,” he stated.
The Layer Cake director further emphasized that a film’s rating should align with its essence rather than attempting to fit predetermined rating expectations, saying, “The rating should be a reflection of what the film is, not trying to make a movie for a rating.”
The upcoming spy comedy film features a star-studded ensemble cast with Henry Cavill taking on the lead role alongside Sam Rockwell, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, John Cena, and Samuel L. Jackson. It will also mark the return of Bryce Dallas Howard to the silver screen, who was last seen in the 2022 film Jurassic World Dominion.
Argylle is set to release on February 2, 2024.
